It feels like every time you’re on a bus these days, the service will suddenly terminate early without warning, stop at multiple points along the route for a change of driver, or will turn up at the stop fifteen minutes late.
Here at the News we have been asking why this is. Is it because there is a shortage of drivers? We know passenger numbers are down, and we know routes have been scrapped, made shorter or merged in recent years.
This is always bad news as it means fewer, more overcrowded buses, but is this a sign of a deteriorating bus service in the capital?
We are increasingly hearing political leaders in London talk about it.
The GLA was told last week by the head of GoAhead, London’s largest bus firm, that they feared they couldn’t afford to put some routes on because of National Insurance tax hikes coupled with falling passenger numbers.
And the Mayor wouldn’t say whether all current bus routes would be maintained in the coming years, despite being pushed by chair of the London Assembly Budget and Performance Committee Neil Garratt numerous times.
He suggested that a change in work patterns post-pandemic could be to blame for a dip in bus passenger numbers, despite all other modes of transport seeing an uptake.
Transport for London say that there are about 20 or so different factors that can impact demand for buses and that two-thirds of those are things that are essentially outside their control – whether that’s economic activity or more people working from home.
It is also worth noting that people will have gone from buses onto the Elizabeth Line, which is of course a positive.
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But if Sir Sadiq Khan is serious about moving the balance of transport away from private cars he should be looking at how to help the bus companies more.
He could be open and frank in ensuring that the tender process allows them to run at a profit, given falling passenger numbers and extra pressures put on them recently by the Labour government like national insurance.
Added to that is that the GLA was also recently told that bus speeds had reached their lowest level in 40 years – even though traffic has reduced.
If bus journey times aren’t improved by cutting the number of cars on the road, how does the Mayor expect to be able to craft a compelling justification for his moves to restrict the use of private vehicles?
Surely, he could use the revenue generated by traffic reduction schemes like the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) levy and the Congestion Charge Zone (CCZ) to improve buses – and even subsidize transport in London. After all, that is how most major cities operate.
I get on at the first stop where I live and buses leave whenever the feel like it although on the bus stop it gives you the times they are suppose to leave this makes it impossible to plan your journey for 15 years I have lived here and get to the bus stop at 06:15 sometimes you wait 20-30 minutes the bus drivers are often rude and don’t care if you miss your train. They terminate early frequently and only tell you when you at the stop they are terminating at the bus, train and crime has got worse and worse over the years yet the government and the mayor don’t seem to care
I has definitely worsened on the 1 bus which was merged and is now extremely long. Information about route changes has been incorrect, the bus needs to ‘even out the service’ twice between Canada Water and Elephant and Castle. This is often because there’s a change of drivers taking place at The Old Vic (there never were changes of drivers there before the merge) and the new driver isn’t there yet.
Waterloo used to be almost guaranteed 15 minutes for me provided Tower Bridge Road wasn’t gridlocked. Now it often takes 20-30 minutes.
78 towards Peckham hasn’t exactly improved much either as I often experience the drive being cut short at Peckham Rye station. It’s heartbreaking to see the bus actually drive past the next bus stop 5 minutes later but refusing to take passengers (even when disabled!)